bush in supreme court. in florida when it was decided for w., some were kept from voting t. turned out to be legitimate voters kept from voting. here again, were they suspected republicans or suspected democrats? a political party pulls every kind of she shnanigan so keep a voters from voting. thank you so much for joining us. here's where that thing stands down there. last week the department of justice sent a letter to the florida secretary of state saying the effort to purge ineligible voters might be a violation of the 1965 voting rights act. any changes affecting voting has to be submitted for approval. well, yesterday the secretary of state down there in florida basically said drop dead to the attorney general in washington. in a response letter he wrote,

quote, the department of state respectfully disagrees with the department of justice's position, the actions taken by flr flor to identify and remove non-citizens from its voter rolls ensure that the right to vote of citizens is protected and is not diluted by the votes of ineligible persons. where are you in terms of that vote in tallahassee? >> let me tell you that last friday the general counsel for our association sent us a memo and basically said we should not be participating and we're not participating, chris. leon county will not participate in illegal, systematic purge which is barred by section 8 of the voter registration act. and the voting rights act issue that you mentioned is applicable, but that's a whole other legal issue here in florida, because since october, the state of florida has filed a lawsuit against the federal government striking down -- seeking to strike down the constitutionality of the voting rights act. so this state is really doubling

down on the partisan efforts, and this is all really since 2010 and what i call the tea party elections. >> but why are they getting so rough down there? they've been winning statewide elections down there. rick scott is the governor. they're in pretty good shape doing a lot of these. why do they have to go in there and push this muscle around and squeeze out eligible voters? why are they playing so rough? are they right wingers or what's going on? >> this state is very, very idealogically driven. the florida house and the florida senate has been completely controlled by the florida republican party since 1998. and we as the supervisor of elections saw the entire landscape, this total relationship between our office and the secretary of state office, dramatically changed. the idea logs in power now don't even bother to allow the hi nort

par -- minority people to hold any hearings on their bills. the partisan is so awful that the head of elections won't even share how it came to this state. it's basically a top down autocratic practice that we follow, and you're right, the problems that were in this state in 2000 are simply not going to go down that road again, and frankly, this played a role in the secretary of state's recent resignation. he was not going to officiate over this kind of a partisan activity, and he resigned rather than do that. >> everybody has great respect for you who is reasonable about politics. it seems like we went through this with saturday night live's version of katherine harris.

the whole thing in florida was kind of a joke, and they put their thumb on the scale and gave it to w. down there. you had a victory last week when a federal judge struck down part of a new law that would force voter registration groups to pay fines for signatures not submitted within 48 hours. the judge says if the goal is to restructure, it might work. we have made a lot of fun of this ridiculous requirement. you're in a supermarket somewhere or you're in a shopping mall on a friday afternoon. you've got a bunch of signatures. you've got to turn them in within 24 hours. so we thought 48 hours was absurd. apparently the courts did, too. is there a pattern in florida of trying to restrict or suppress voting by suspected democrats? >> well, chris, i thought you had it just right in your introduction when you talked

about shades of the year 2000. it's a little bit right now in nor fl florida like alice in wonderland. the only thing missing is the chechire cat and the rabbit. you talk about voting purges. that is only one part of voter suppression laws. we've seen the legislature and the governor cut early voting days in half, and that's in spite of the fact that people were waiting for four hours and longer last presidential election during early voting. we've seen elimination of the most popular early voting day of all before election day, particularly for minorities. we've seen imposition of many more people are going to need to cast provisional ballots this year, and, of course, the restrictions against groups like ours who are only trying to bring new, eligible voters in the election process.

we are celebrating, but we are still fighting. we had a big win last week. >> it's such an interesting thing, the target maliciously realized that african-americans tend to go to church on sunday, which is wonderful, and they go to vote afterwards. this has become a wonderful ritual, and all of a sudden, they're in tallahassee saying, great. let's make sure we can't do this anymore. it's so maliciously ad hoc. >> it's going to make it harder for everybody to vote with a special emphasis on minorities, special emphasis making it harder for our students and for our elderly. we are continuing to fight these laws. we have another lawsuit in court regarding some of the changes that the judge has not spoken on yet, but we were really pleased last week with that decision.

the supervisors of election and i on sancho as my hero, they have held firm on these voter purges and the department of defense has been held on huge bipartisan just a few years ago. >> when i responded to this, here's governor rick scott scrubbing them, if you will, for what he says are non-citizens. >> >> people who vote in the election are people who have a right to vote. we just want fair elections. that's what all of us want. this is not a partisan issue. >> he says it's not a partisan issue, ian. does that pass the smell test? >> not to me, it doesn't, chris. we have almost no evidence in

this state of illegal voters on our database. in fact, we spend $23 million to build what i think may be the state of the art voter registration database as required by the help america vote act. and that database requires front and matching, and picture i.d. mat. he's thrown out numbers like 180,000 non-citizens. that is completely false. and that number, i think, is simply designed to be a bloody shirt that he's waving on part of his september. . which is what the election supervisors have to do.

it looks like this election is going to come down the wire, and it looks like romney and obama are going to be real close. florida will be one state that we watch, and we see preparation being made. cutting down the opportunities to register, threatening to punish people who were doing registration. the. what kind of electorate are they trying to groom down there? i think grooming the electorate and deciding these elections, and limit it to that? >> well, if the daily purges are any indication, one might certainly come to that conclusion. the numbers, when an analysis has been done of the numbers --. there is an extraordinarily.

as i said, the law. in particular, the laws they passed are disproportionately going to attract cy young voters, the milgd voters, the elderly voters. anyway, thank you very much. i heard you're great. coming up, dirty, angry money. we saw. will republicans be able to spend their way to victory this november? that's the big question. since mitt romney wants to diss obama, and for this guy, his first year doesn't count. opposing candidates in this

year's democratic primaries, and it's happening all over the nation. this is "hardball," a place for politics. 550 let's talk about the personal attention tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you and your money deserve. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, that means taking a close look at you tdd# 1-800-345-2550 as well as your portfolio. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we ask the right questions, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 then we actually listen to the answers tdd# 1-800-345-2550 before giving you practical ideas you can act on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck online, on the phone, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or come in and pull up a chair. [ male announcer ] we began with the rx. ♪ then we turned the page, creating the rx hybrid. ♪ now we've turned the page again with the all-new rx f sport. ♪

this is the next chapter for the rx. this is the next chapter for lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. well, the battleground state to watch this year if not florida is virginia. obama carried it in 2008, and romney needs to win it to have a shot at the white house, people argue. we have a new virginia poll and for that we check the hardball scoreboard. president obama holding, a 5% lead over romney, 47-42. the race is getting tighter, however. it was 8 back in march, now it's down to 5. in michigan, a state thought to be leading toward obama, but romney has a one-point lead over the new epic poll. romney 46, obama 45. troubling there. we'll be right back.

there it is, dirty angry, money. welcome back to "hardball." one thing we learned from governor harbaugh this week is money talks, loudly. all those super pacs sharks are smelling blood in the water as they gear up for november elections. a wake-up to rally the democrat's troops. thank you, gentlemen. you are the two best. i'm glad to have you here. don't get mad at me, chuck, because you're my partner and he's an outsider. michael barrone, you can ask him any congressional district and he can tell you the ethnic breakdown, the history of the british kings and queens. i was watching this tuesday and it was a heartbreaker for people like my colleague ed schultz.

i think there was a lot of trump about the potential for a lot of things happening and falling in place that didn't happen, thinking all labor people would vote together. >> by wathe way, republicans, that's usually about the labor share. >> the other thing is a lot of people thought the recall should only be used when somebody is a crook, basically. this is their authority and 70% of the people took that. a lot of things got in the way of this thing being a real political test. let me ask you about this. a lot of money was thrown in there by big people, the usual suspects. people are spending roughly half a million bucks apiece, and they win. is the message now to the big people on the right it works? start spending big money, you can knock off obama. >> it's a message in 2008, right? look at -- you had the biggest

money campaign in the history of presidential politics was barack obama. what did it mean? he carried state. the democrats hadn't carried in a generation in south carolina. >> so romney this month -- >> not the least bit surprising. >> let's take a look at the new obama tv ad trying to get back on the jobs messaging. they're using the money for this and they feel they have to do this to make up for the loss in wisconsin. let's watch. >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message. we're still fighting our way back from the worst economic crisis since the great depression. our businesses have created almost 4.3 million new jobs over the last 27 months, but we're still not reigning them in as fast as we want. >> teachers, firefighters, police officers and construction workers need to get back to work right now, and it's paid for by asking the wealthiest americans to pay a little bit more.

but congress refuses to act. tell congress we can't wait. >> so what's the point of that ad? >> i think it answers the criticism that they don't have a plan. the hand wringing that really has gone on inside the democratic party, it's not about bain, it's not about bill clinton, it's about this charge of what is the president running on. and this is at least a piece of it right now which also puts a little bit of the onus -- >> do they expect to get back to work? >> they expect to get their target back and going after -- >> they have a big construction workers job program that people can imagine, see it out there like lincoln did, the enter state, the continental railroad. something big and grand. this idea that we're going to pay off people so they don't get

bored. >> i asked the question of several white house officials, why not go big, why not go bolder, why not do something that transforms this conversation. even if you lose, you made the debate. here's the answer i got back. we know more about the way american people view this economy than anyone else running for that reelection or anyone else covering this campaign. that's the answer i got from the white house. they're going to stand pat where they are. there is a debate going on. the consensus is stay where we are, blame congress, because most americans according to their focus groups believe most america republicans run office. it's a risk. >> what do they say -- what's their big picture for the future, though? >> that they don't have. i'm told they have time for that. that's when he lays out the next four years. >> their assumption is in the

slum bering summer months even amid depressing or discouraging jobs data, the american people are really going to focus in september. >> all rolled out. i've heard that. >> it's a me sssage as a place rally. >> they don't want a big, grand jobs bill. they want something small that they think will meet the current message needs. >> but chris, look, there's two sets of swing voters out here. one is their base that they're trying to get, people between swing voting and not voting. but they still have this persuasion part. right now there are folks in the middle who think government has done too many good things. so the idea it would be good politics for the president right now to come out there and propose a big spending program? >> if we start to heckle or

badger congress, this president need to stay away from congress. when he gets closer to congress, he gets less popular, not more popular. that's what they saw happening in august in the debt ceiling crisis. >> let's talk about money, because you would think the incumbent of the president of the united states would be able to raise more money. what are we seeing now? >> john kerry outraised george w. bush. we just had this happen years ago. >> let's get the structural thing down on this part of the money. it's a joint district fund, okay? they've been able to raise this money jointly. remember, they're $134 million of money donated to people not named mitt romney. those people jump into this huge pot of $70,000 or more, and

they're jumping in. >> where did $7 an hour come from? >> what you can give combined to the romney party and the state party. >> but you can give unlimited, what structure can happen within the roc and romney. what's romney have cash on hand? what cash does the president have on hand? 115 million. and by the way, we know if romney had more money, he would be advertising. >> when is it going to matter? when does it start to matter and affecting people's votes? >> i think some of it is now. i think this is an important advertisement period, then i think there is a lull, and then i think it will matter again in septemberment then once october

comes, if you're more alone. they just spend all the money they had in hand. they would have a lot in hand. suppose the shells and the bob perrys see a close election in the last week. . there's no way they can into it. most of this super pac money, you're going to see it's spent before -- >> am i right about the winner in wisconsin? >> they had it in wisconsin. >> i do think democrats will find a few donor people pop up.

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>> you think hot mail, you think old, right? you think dial-up internet, am i right? the late night comedians were all over the hacker who got into mitt romney's e-mail account. let's go over smv dave letterman's top ten subject lines. >> number 8, reminder, it's been over a month since you purchased a cadillac. number 6, 20% off beach house car elevators.com. number 3, it's newt. are you getting my messages? number 2, if i vote for you, can i ride on your dancing horse? there it is. >> wow. with u.s. secret service has confirmed they're actually investigating that hacking situation there. here's the question. what's the best way to kill the momentum when in the middle of a speech on the senate floor? just ask iowa republican chuck grassley. yesterday he learned the hard way. >> when i apply the standard that i mentioned and the

standards which senator obama laid out or the standards in expressed -- [ phone ringing ] >> we know what his ring tone is, don't we? anyway, catch the dog gone it there? what a mid westerner. here he is on cbs this morning. >> have you made the decision that you do not want to be president? >> i've not made that decision, although i think there is a window of opportunity in life for all sorts of reasons, and this was probably my time. although i don't know given kind of what i believe and how i believe it, i'm not sure i would have been successful as a candidate, either. these are different times than just six years ago when i last

ran. >> wow. it's moved too right for him. that republican debate when all the candidates raised their hands saying they would refuse ten dowryes in spending cuts. this man said he wished he had been the odd man out. >> this will prove i'm not running for anything. if you could bring to me a majority of people to say that we're going to have $10 of spending cuts for $1 of revenue enhancement, put me in coach. >> he's a smart guy. he wouldn't have been sitting with the clown show we saw these last months. imagine someone with the nerve to stand up and say, look, that's a good deal for a conservative. i should take it. up next, hypocrisy alert.

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back to "hardball." mitt romney's campaign advisers have been making the rounds, defending their candidate from attacks on the white house during his term as governor. he ranked 47th out of 50. when you're running from offices to jobs guy, that's not a great record. but romney's advisers have a defense. they say it's unfair to consider the entire period of romney's term since the governor inherited a bleak economic pay structure. >> over the years, it was 47th, there's no question about that. >> this is what they're doing, chris. you take the first year, which is a low base year when the governor came in and took office because it was 50th in jobs creation out of all states dead last, moved to 40th in the second year, had a net of 37

states with jobs, and in his fourth year in office, it shows the real impact of his policies, and diluting it with the first year in office, he inherited a deficit. >> did you hear that, romney inherited a bad situation, but when it comes to the president, romney doesn't cut obama any slack at all. here's the spokeswoman andrea saul. >> since he started presidency, he's not created any jobs, not when you look at the full picture of the economy. >> and mitt romney earlier this year? let's watch him. sdp >> this is a president who lost more jobs during his tenure since hoover. this is 2 million jobs he's lost as president. >> the only way to consider him a net loser is to count two sessions of his term.

so obaserv romney shouldn't be liable but the president should. i'll start with you, michael. it seems to be what's good for the goose is good for the gander. if romney's people come out and say, oh, you can't say that because his first year was terrible, his last three were great. if you do the same math on obama and you take out the first part, he did produce 4 million jobs. even if you take out the first month, he created 72 more. it is a legitimate criticism, and i think a legitimate defense, but why don't we get consistent here on the romney side? >> i think it is legitimate criticism, and the reality is you're not going to discount any year of a governor's term or presidential term. ij there i think there is a difference and there is a difference of what ed wthe ad was pushing to.

which government does he take, and he was able to muster together to turn it around from 50th in jobs creation to 47th -- >> 50th to 47th. >> he inherited the 50 -- if you're taking that number, ed's point is right, the last couple years, the number in jobs was not that much greater. the second point is when you look at what obama has done coming in with his first two years with the super majority in the house and senate -- >> with the worst economic crash since the great depression. not a bad year. he had -- >> he created an anemic economy at best, and 23 million americans are still unemployed. >> you can be dramatic, but --

if you buy a house and the lawn isn't cut, is that your fault? it's a metaphor. don't blame a guy for what he inherited. >> if you go and buy a lawn mower with dull blades, you're not cutting the grass, are you? >> i've started something. >> here are the facts that i think are more difficult to argue about. so when mitt romney became governor, the unemployment rate in massachusetts was actually lower than the national average. and when he left office after creating 40,000 jobs, he says, the unemployment rate was actually higher than the national average. so mitt romney actually had four years to try to do what was happening in the country, and he couldn't do it. manufacturing jobs in massachusetts disappeared at a rate at twice the national average since he was governor. >> let's go to the educational part of the show. let's take a look tat the jobs

because this is important. you see in the blue there at the beginning of his term, job losses were at their worst. see that in the beginning there? under ed gillespie's logic, take a look at what the jobs look like. the country lost about half a million jobs. but if you discount his first month, february under obama, the country has actually netted 200,000 jobs. and it's gained 3.7 million jobs. obama has done very good except for the first year. >> no one discounts that, but the question s what do you do with it? >> let's talk about those jobs. those jobs were largely in the first two and a half years, government related. >> we have that, too, that show that the jobs that were created

were private sector jobs. all of those are private sector jobs. so how do you explain 23 million people still looking for work? >> that discounts those 22 million. >> in the past 27 months, there has been job creation every single month. 4.3 million new jobs have been created in the past 27 months. when mitt romney -- there are some months -- >> 69,000. >> 69,000 what mitt romney did in four years is last month. that's twice the national average. >> i love how you come on this show, michael, my pal. you come on and defend the

republican congress for saying no to everything this guy wants them to do. then when they get nothing done because they say no to every little thing, this little can of spam, they say no to that, they won't get this puny little jobs bill and they fire for firemen and teachers, and then you come on and say how come no new jobs? because your party gets its rocks off by saying no to everything. >> but the reality is, you want to throw the spam out there, but you're not worried about how much the spam costs. you're not worried about how folks are going to digest that. >> you can't complain about no jobs if the guy tries to get a jobs bill week after week and you say no. >> jobs economists have

estimated -- >> we got out of the great depression, world war ii. >> what did health care have to do with jobs in the first year when all those jobs you were talking about that were handed down by george bush were not being created by the administration. >> because until we got health care under control, we would hemorrhage the federal budget until kingdom come. steve mcmann and michael steele complains when he has no problems. that member versus member fight in new jersey this week. romney is picking candidates, and obama gets the other one. inevitably, bill clinton wins the fight. it may say something about 2012 and certainly something about 2016. this is "hardball," the place for politics. facturing.

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we're back. he may be an a list surrogate for the president, but bill clinton and president obama are refighting, in many ways, the 2008 campaign. twice this year bill clinton has supported candidates coming out again with hillary. pascual joins us right now. i'm watching this congressman, by the way, concongratulations, sir. they're the toughest fights you have. it's so fascinating to watch caroline cain and fritz in

pennsylvania, wherever bill clinton came from, his woman or man across the country or just in the northeast. >> i think he is an ener vising gorilla. he was on his game, and we both want the president to be reelected. he helped me in my campaign. we were 14 points down two or three months ago, and we strong with the momentum. for a district that was 60 the other way, and 40 my way, i think we did a good job. >> do you have a sense that senator clinton, secretary of state clinton will run for

president in 2016. >> we talk frequently, but that has never come up. we couldn't have a better candidate if she wants to run. >> let's talk politics, i'm just an observer, but there's a thing called clearing the field. and this is not negative, i have a sense he is clearing the field for hillary clinton the next time. if he doesn't want to see opponented like joe biden, he doesn't want anyone coming out and testing the water, he wants to say to your spouse, you run, because there will not be any democratic in your way. >> chris, the fact of the matter is he has not come out for too many candidates in this primary regardless of how folks try to make this the president verses the former president. the only three candidates, my brother, mark critz didn't go to pennsylvania, he endorsed him.

i don't believe that's his motivation. >> but he got in the attorney general fight against pat murphy. so he is doing this. >> very effective. >> i'll tell you, it's awesome. >> i think he energizes the troops, the outpouring of support for president -- former president clinton was just great last friday. he helped me a lot. he endorsed me a month ago. came in, did robo calls for me. i'm very grateful. once a primary is over, for the most part we come together. >> i'm with you, let's have some fun. you came on "hardball" two years ago and you talked about reaching a bipartisan compromise on health care. i thought it was really and made sense. let's watch because your opponent went after you on this. >> is there going to be some

kind of a reform this year agreeable on both sides? will they do this piecemeal and do something? >> yes, i believe it can happen and the president should try again to reach out to the other side. i know what he tried to do in the beginning, mr. boehner is the leader of the republicans in the house. he chose the path of saying our party will not support this, and republicans had great ideas. we had bipartisan meetings, and i liked some of their ideas and they liked some of our ideas. >> now let's watch how your defeated opponent tried to use it against you. here is that interview in one of his attack ads. >> i'm steve rothman, and i approve this ad.

>> the republicans had great ideas, i liked some of their ideas. >> especially if you're wealthy. >> what a cheap shot, what a distortion. you said let's find a compromise on health care to get something done. >> that's certainly not my record, it's what other people decided, but third parties said this was not on disagaingenuous. i wanted to put them to the test. the same way, chris, i asked for, if you remember in 2010, a vote on the ryan budget. i said put it up let's see who is for cutting medicare. >> when we return, let me finish with a bad press set this weekend, dirty angry money that

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let me finish tonight with have dirty angry money. does it bother you that a farm of the rich can pour into money an election and get what they want. there is millions these customers can spring. that's what happened this week

in wisconsin and is a gleaming model for what these people are planning for november unfortunately. seven to one. that's what scott walker outspent his critics, seven to one. and look at the donors, bob perry of text, $490,000. she'll don adleson. people that hate the president and can't wait to throw money behind any attack ad they see. now they know they can get results. this election in wisconsin this week, whatever you think, could have a huge impact in november. people will keep themselves shy of the search light that they can get away with it. wisconsin was a bad example that will encourage the wrong people

to get involved in this election to spend any amount of money to defend their interest. not a good message there. that's for "hardball," "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. >> welcome to "politicsnation," i'm al sharpton, tonight's lead, the president is fighting to turn this economy around, but republicans, they're just playing games. just a short time ago, president obama spoke to students at the university of nevada las vegas. he urged congress to get on board with making student loans more affordable, and he lashed out at congress for standing in the way of putting americans back to work. >> plenty of steps we can take right now to help create jobs and grow this economy faster. i sent to congress a job's bill. full of the i